I'm a reader

Another installment in my 2012 Non-resolutions series!

I'm a reader. I've always been this way. I can't help it. Cereal boxes, street signs, billboards, magazines, any book you put in front of me, I'll read it. At the end of last year, I was convicted to give up fiction. I was wasting too much time reading as a form of mindless entertainment escapism.

I was mindlessly consuming Christian romances that in spite of being "Christian" were building up unrealistic expectations about romance and I started to take it out on my husband when he didn't match up, mystery novels that were a bit racy, lawyer drama books with lots of language I didn't understand and plenty that I should not repeat, Chick Lit with no substance and even more things that didn't match up to Phillipppians 4:8 (whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things). I was not being edified - in fact the opposite. I was avoiding, I kept getting sucked in, staying up late to "just finish this chapter," losing myself in these books again and again instead of doing fun stuff from my "creative/crafty to do" list, taking care of my house or to be honest, doing anything remotely productive .

We did a series on the fiction of CS Lewis in our Sunday School class and we started with discussions about wether we should even read fiction and what the benefits of it are (I have a great sunday school class!) they were good discussions and I have no plans of permanently giving up fiction (taking Advent off though will probably be a yearly occurrence).

I took a month away from fiction so that I could resume reading fiction more intentionally; so that I would be able to enjoy it not end up feeling guilty or unsatisfied. I'm the last person who would say that fiction is a bad thing, and mindless escapism may even have a place but I want to be more intentional about what I'm reading.

So for 2012 I'll be listing the books I've read on this page. Some I may comment on some I may just list, but the purpose is record keeping and accountability. Please don't take their appearance on this page to be an unconditional endorsement.